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JON O'CONNELL, STAFF WRITER
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Published: August 18, 2016

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More children in Pennsylvania are being diagnosed with a disease historically found only in adults.

The percentage of kids with Type 2 diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, nearly tripled from 2014 to 2015 in the Scranton area, though they still make up only a slim margin of those who have the disease, according to a report out this week to help business owners curb medical costs.

The Lehigh Valley Business Coalition on Healthcare on Monday published its fourth annual Type 2 Diabetes Report, which revealed that a growing portion of diabetes patients are children up to age 17.

In 2014, 0.5 percent of diabetes patients in Scranton were children, according to the report. That grew to 1.4 percent last year. The figures reflect what coalition President Thomas J. Croyle said is becoming the trend across the U.S., where the national average doubled from 0.5 percent in 2014 to 1 percent last year.

Rising obesity across the nation has been the diabetes epidemic’s single greatest contributor, and according to the National Institutes of Health, 32 percent of children age 2 to 19 are considered overweight or obese.

“Childhood obesity is a real problem,” said Jignesh Sheth, M.D., an internal medicine doctor and medical director for The Wright Center for Primary Care Mid Valley.

The disease, which affects the way the body processes sugar, also is affecting more 20- and 30-year-olds, he said. About 20 years ago, that was never a problem.

“Normally, you would see the onset around 40-years plus,” he said.

Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, which headquarters its vaccine division in Monroe County, funded the study. Connecticut-based IMS Health provided the data — a sampling of about 420,000 diabetes patients in Pennsylvania and more than 9 million nationally. Denver-based Forte Information Resources analyzed it and composed the report.The report

looked specifically at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area, as well as the Allentown, Harrisburg, and Reading metro areas, statewide and national averages.

The percentage of diabetic patients on private insurance fell slightly from 2014 to 2015 both statewide and nationwide, according to the report. Meanwhile, the percentage of diabetics on Medicaid ticked up by about one percentage point each.

Looking at hospital data from 2013-14, the per-hospital number of diabetics admitted as inpatients dropped slightly in every study region except the Scranton area. Here, that figure rose by about 101 cases to 1,486, an increase of about 7 percent.

The coalition produced the study to encourage employers to help their workers stay healthy, but Mr. Croyle said it’s mostly health care providers, not businesses, who show an interest in the research.

“From an employer perspective, I can’t imagine why they don’t want to get involved because the cost of treatment’s about four times higher for a diabetic,” he said.

The nation has reached a jarring realization: diabetes has become a serious problem, Dr. Sheth said. The epidemic, which accompanies rising obesity rates fueled by popular highly processed foods and low-quality lunches in public schools, gained national attention with first lady Michelle Obama, who campaigned to get children eating better foods.

However, it remains to be seen whether the next White House administration, moving in next year, will prioritize nutrition and Dr. Sheth said he’s concerned efforts will fall off.

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